“ PROVE ALL THINGS; HOLD FAST THAT WHICH IS GOOD."
* TO THE LAW AND TO THE TESTIMONY."

VOLUME I.

Pew-York:

PUBLISHED BY J. EASTBURN & CO.

AT THE LITERARY ROOMS, CORNER OF BROADWAY AND

PINE-STREET.

ABRAHAM PAUL, PRINTER.

Southern District of New-York, ss. E

dependence of the United States of America, JAMES EASTBURN & Co. of the said district, have deposited in this office the title of a book, the right whereof they claim as Proprietors, in the words and figures following, to wit: “ The Evangelical Guardian and Review. By an Association of Clergymen in New York.

Prove all things, hold fast that which is good. To the law and to the testimony"

Vol. I.
In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States entitled "an Act for the en-
couragement of Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors
and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned." And also to an Act,
entitled an Act, supplementary to an Act, entitled an Act for the encouragement of
Learning, by securing the copies of Maps, Charts, and Books to the authors and proprietors
of such copies, during the times therein mentioned, and extending the benefits thereof to
the arts of desigoing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

THERON RUDD,
Clerk of the Southern District of New-York.

In order that we may“ know what we ought to do,” it is necessary for us to possess an “understanding of the times."* Without such an understanding, we cannot rightly estimate the nature and effects of scenes which daily present themselves to our view, and invite our examination. Different events call for the discharge of different duties; and, therefore, it is necessary to know the character of the first, that thus we may rightly perform the last. In this important knowledge, the multitude in Christian lands, at all times, are lamentably deficient, and therefore suffer incalculable mischief in their best interests. They seem, as if by general consent, age after age, to have fallen into two prominent mistakes; which, as they pervert our judgments, always produce disappointment.

The first mistake is, that they view passing events in a light exclusively political; estimating their importance, and calculating their issues, upon principles of political science which has ever been, and in no age more so than the present, merely a system of expediency; without ascertaining, or even inquiring, how far these principles accord with the word of God. Christians themselves, it is to be feared, forget that they have

a more sure word of prophecy, whereunto” they ought to * take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place;"and